In most of these discussions, you cannot avoid the Union apologists bringing up slavery, as if that somehow answers the question as to whether the South had a right to leave.
Some people are surprised that the Union had five slave states, and that they had no intentions of stopping slavery until two years into the war.
These facts don't support the long taught propaganda about what people were fighting for. The "Abolish Slavery" angle is the only one that makes the Union look good.
Too bad for them that it isn't actually true.
It's raised because it was their reason for leaving. As to whether they had the right to leave, I've seen some Unionists saying that states couldn't leave at all, others saying they could with a Constitutional amendment, and others argue that leaving was permitted with the consent of both sides. Personally I go for the last method, especially since that was what James Madison said.
Some people are surprised that the Union had five slave states, and that they had no intentions of stopping slavery until two years into the war.
Some people believe that every single word of Baldwin's article is absolute fact. So what can I say? There are a lot of gullible people out there who don't do their own research.